[a short rant about body hair]

hey everyone. i wrote this awhile ago, and i thought it would be pertinent to a lot of the discussions in this forum so... here goes.

embracing a positive self-image has been a slow, long process, which involved a lot of time where i wasn’t comfortable with specific aspects of my appearance. the most substantial physical change i’ve gone through was my decision to stop shaving. i made this decision based on many reasons:
1) body hair is natural and beneficial. hair is on the body in various places to help regulate body temperature-- you lose lots of heat from your scalp when it’s cold; your hair keeps the heat loss in check. this principle also applies to the underarms and pubic areas-- places where glands and organs need to stay at a fairly constant (healthy) temperature. we get goosebumps when it’s cold outside because of an evolutionary memory of raising our arm or leg hairs to trap heat as a regulatory measure; these hairs seem pretty useless now.
2) body hair is not ugly. for a long time i accepted the fact that i wouldn’t be pretty without shaving my underarms and my legs, that i wouldn’t attract anyone (even friends!) if i had body hair where it “shouldn’t” be. unable to disassociate myself from the expectations of others (and of myself), i was stuck in a vicious cycle of cutting myself with razors, destroying my skin, and undermining my self-esteem. once i stopped, it became easier and easier to see my hair as a natural function of my body and nothing that any taboo should be associated with. i have been letting my leg hair grow for almost two years now, and it’s stayed at a fairly short length. (this may be because i’m irish and i don’t have very thick hair on my limbs anyway.)
3) having to shave reinforces the idea that my purpose as a woman is to attract men. this is not to say that attracting other people is a bad thing-- just to bring to light the fact that shaving helps women become objects, based on conventional sexist standards of beauty. young children don’t have noticeable body hair; women (who are taught to look “young” and “appealing”) shave their hair to hide their womanhood. i feel empowered by refusing to look like i’m younger than i am, refusing to hide something that i was taught by society to not like about myself.
4) shaving is not mandatory, it’s a choice. i respect people who shave just as much as i respect people who don’t-- as long as it’s their choice and not just something that they’re going along with to fit in. if some thought has been put into their decision to shave/otherwise remove their hair i can respect their decision. i for one am too lazy and busy to care about shaving, and prefer to let my body do what it wants.